The Bears don't have a more animated position coach on staff. Hoke is firm and firmer when with players on the field in training camp. . . . It's not always an approach that works in the NFL.

"That is the way I was raised in coaching," said Hoke. . . "I had a guy tell me one time, and I do believe it: 'Encourage, correct, encourage.' ... When they come off and I am in their ear, sometimes it's correction and sometimes it's encouragement. It's always in that vein, though.

"Sometimes it's tough love. And people don't like to hear it. It's just human nature. We don't want to hear those things. But we have a wonderful group of players to coach, and we're extremely pleased with what they are doing so far."

And again,

"He does it because he cares about us and he treats everyone the same. I don't get any preferential treatment over a practice squad guy. He's hard on everybody. He's consistent all the way around."

This is only tangentially related to Brady Hoke, but you can certainly see some similarities in their coaching style.

WolverineNation had a discussion on who they felt was the biggest surprise through the first 5 games. Their picks were : Elliott Mealer, Quinton Washington, and Devin Funchess. I'm curious to hear who you guys feel is the biggest surprise so far this year? My pick is Funchess, I think he has the makings to be Michigans best receiving TE ever. My second pick is Devin Gardner. We all knew he had the size to be a great WR, but he has definitely surpassed my expectations.

Until sometime Saturday evening, Michigan’s season was somewhat of an enigma. Entering Big Ten play the anecdotal evidence for the season was a mixed bag. Good performances against bad teams, weak performances against good (Air Force offense and Notre Dame) and great (Alabama) teams. Purdue entered Big Ten play with a similar resume. Big wins against three bad teams and a close loss against Notre Dame. Vegas installed Michigan as a slight road favorite more on preseason expectations than what has happened thus far.

Michigan responded with an old school MANBALL beat down and the picture is starting to become clearer. This is not a juggernaut Michigan team that can contend with the top teams in the country, but it is also a team that hasn’t faced a major let down the likes Michigan St, Iowa, Nebraska and the rest of the Legends division have seen already this year. Michigan’s remaining schedule shows only one team rated higher than them on offense and defense (Ohio St) and three teams that eclipse them on offense (Nebraska) or defense (Michigan St and Iowa).